Find Your Adventure

Voluntourism

June 04, 2010

By Greer Schott; Photograph courtesy of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Austin

Get rewarded for giving back this summer as hotels hop on the voluntourism bandwagon. Traditionally done through socially and environmentally conscious outfitters, hotels are now offering voluntourism promotions with heavily discounted rates (save up to 50 percent!) when you spend part of your vacation volunteering through one of their programs.

May 20, 2010

National Geographic Digital Media's Korena Di Roma will be traveling to South Africa to report on the Comrades Marathon, the start of the World Cup, and World Vision's humanitarian efforts in the country. Follow her dispatches here.

It’s been called the greatest footrace on Earth—56 miles through the brutal, hilly terrain between two South African cities. It’s a race that rivets the sports-loving country each year, and this spring it will take place for the 85th time just two weeks before the inaugural match of the 2010 World Cup.

The Comrades Marathon began in 1921 as a living memorial to South Africans who fought in World War I. That year, 34 runners took on the course between Pietermaritzburg and the coastal city of Durban. Today it’s the world’s oldest ultramarathon and, with nearly 17,000 runners set to participate, it’s also the world’s largest.

May 11, 2010

Top notch luxury safari outfitter andBeyond (see the company review in our Adventure Ratings) is known for its commitment to
conservation and local community building. With burgeoning efforts in
India coming to fruition in 2010, these guides are on the cutting edge
of socially conscious adventure travel. But voluntourism? Think
again. While staff take Indian middle schoolers on Conservation
Lessons in Kanha National Park or orchestrate the building of a new
local school, guests decidedly do not.

“There’s a bit of a controversy in allowing tourists to do work,” says andBeyond’s Paula Franklin. “Say there’s a local carpenter who needs a
job and he sees a family from Nebraska building a house. He’ll think: Why are they taking the job that I could get paid for? The community
would rather we pay someone who needs the money than let a tourist do
it.”

April 19, 2010

Take it from Micato Safaris, the high-end outfitter with a
conscience: “luxury voluntourism” is not an oxymoron. Sort of.
Starting this year, Micato promises to sponsor one Kenyan child’s
education for every person who goes with them on safari. The
volunteering comes with the “Lend a Helping Hand” trip extension.
After 12 days sipping cocktails and scouting out the Big Five from your
private bush plane, you’ll spend a morning with AmericaShare, a
Micato-sponsored nonprofit, reading to school children or planting a
tree in Nairobi’s Mukuru slum.

Call it "Voluntourism for Beginners." “Not everyone is prepared to build a
school on their first trip to Africa,” says Micato’s Jessica Brida.
“This is kind of just dipping your toes in.” The goal is to inspire
you to keep giving post-safari through another one of Micato’s
philanthropy programs.

For the safari, guests arrive in Nairobi and visit Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Serengeti National Park, and the Maasai Mara, ending back in Nairobi.—Greer Schott